


Little Bird, Little Bird

by tessdebelle



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, like they may come out at a later time in later plans, major ship being philinda, warning that many of these characters and ships are NOT in the first post
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-27
Updated: 2014-10-17
Packaged: 2018-02-10 15:09:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2029719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tessdebelle/pseuds/tessdebelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil Coulson was a dork and everyone knew that, but the only person who didn't care and liked him anyway was the new girl at school, Melinda May. So, naturally, he had to make her fall in love with him. Using Captain America themed chocolates and second grade charms.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

"Oh, honey." Was the first thing that came out of his mother's mouth when Phil got home from school. He just dropped his backpack down by the door and was met by her warm arms, and melted.

Seven year old boys weren't supposed to cry or need their mommies. He was supposed to be one of the big boys now. He was in second grade. He was old enough to not need to be a kid.

But being a kid meant towel hugs and cookies and milk and cuddles, so it was okay.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked, smoothing down his hair. Unlike the other boys hair, Phil's was short and cropped rather than longish and floppy. He shrugged, sticking out his lip.

His mother had those big, soft blue eyes that Phil knew he got from her, but her hair was blonde, because his hair came from daddy's side of the family.

Mommy could cuddle him and love him, but he missed daddy. Daddy would show him how to fight the mean kids.

"Grant Ward was hitting me again." He said, going to the couch and curling up on it, grabbing a pillow and holding it to him like it could protect him. "He and Tommy. Grant said he didn't want me talking to Skye again." He said, looking back up at his mother. He knew he looked like a mess- his favorite Captain America shirt had grass stains on it, and a bit of blood from the nosebleed he'd gotten earlier than day. His face was dirty and he had a cut on his forehead.

His mommy just stroked his hair and sighed. "Did you tell Mr. Fury?" She asked.

Phil looked down at his lap, swinging his legs back and forth. Mr. Fury was his class's teacher, and he looked out for him, but he also wasn't there during recess. Mr. Garrett was, and he was mean, so Phil just nodded because what else could he do?

His mom just cuddled him close and kissed his head. He smiled a bit, but left after she said she had to go to work.

Most kids didn't stay home alone like Phil, but most of them had two parents. They probably would've been jealous, but he hated being alone. It was too quiet.

The next day at school, Phil tried to be hopeful. He wore his Captain America big-boy pants and Captain America lunchbox, and with the coolest superhero ever protecting him, nothing could go wrong.

The other kids all liked Batman. They just didn't know how cool Cap's trading cards were.

It was around recess during lunch when Phil was sitting on the swing set, organizing his trading cards by release date when Grant Ward came there with Tommy Horowitz by his side. Skye was clutching his hand but didn't look especially happy there- from what he'd heard, Skye and Grant were boyfriend and girlfriend, but Grant was a bully to everyone but her.

"Hey!" Grant yelled, kicking at Phil's hands. His cards scattered away from him onto the muddy ground, the mint condition cards getting dirty. "Still having your dork obsession, dork-face?" He asked, leering down. Phil was too busy collecting his cards to answer and kept his gaze down, hoping Grant would go away, until he heard a heavy thud and looked up.

Grant had landed on the same ground beside his cards, and standing above them both, presumably the one who pushed him down, was a girl he'd never seen before.

"Melinda!" A sharp voice scolded, and Mrs. Hand, the art teacher, came and pulled her away. Mrs. Hand was strict, but nice, and her hair was cool.

He watched as the girl was pulled away and yelled at for pushing Grant into the mud, and the other boy stood and brushed off his shirt, muttering something about annoying girls under his breath, but Phil was more interested in the new girl.

She had long dark hair that was pulled back in a braid down her back, and, instead of wearing the Justice for Girls girly clothes the other girls wore, she wore a black sweatshirt and jeans. She had had dark, slanted eyes and a round face.

She wasn't pretty the way other girls were, not like Jemma Simmons or Skye, but in a way, she was prettier. She was different. She had protected him.

It was only at the end of recess when they were taking role and her name was called out that he heard it. Melinda May. He liked her already.


	2. Chapter Two

"Good to see you smiling, kid."

Phil spun around hearing a familiar voice and quickly tackled the older boy in a hug, grinning ear to ear seeing Clint Barton. "I missed you!" He said happily.

Clint pulled away a bit to laugh and sit up on the grass with Phil half in his lap, grinning. Clint had two matching lines of braces along his teeth, with alternating green and brown this month. Last July for Phil's birthday, he'd gotten Captain America colors. Clint had bad teeth. "I missed you too, AC."

When Clint had first gotten assigned to Phil as his fifth grade buddy, he was honestly scared. Clint was cool. He went to archery practice an hour away every day after school and even had a long scar on his shoulder he showed off from it. Clint always looked cool even though he wore beat up jeans and ratty T-shirts, and he even played a little guitar.

But, he was also really, really fun. And a good hugger.

He'd made Phil feel good on the first day they'd spent together. He'd looked at his trading cards and they'd played spy agents, and ever since he got the nickname 'AC', Agent Coulson. It was pretty cool.

"Got any new information for me, agent?" Clint asked with a half-grin. That was their way of talking about news and what was going on, because 'What's up?' was too boring.

"There's a new girl at school." He said, pulling out a comic book and looking through it, trying to act like it didn't matter. Girls were supposed to have cooties, except for maybe his mom. He was pretty sure Melinda didn't have cooties, though.

Clint snorted. "Waita go Casanova." He said, grinning.

Phil didn't know what a Casanova was.

"Melinda is just... A friend." He said, trying to keep his blush down. Clint laughed. "Really! She defended me from Grant Ward."

Clint thought for a second and nodded. "I approve. I don't like how he treats you. You picked her well."

Phil blushed again and looked across the field where he could see Melinda. Most of the other girls were with their fifth grade buddy and getting their hair braided or reading magazines, but Melinda's buddy was teaching her some kind of yoga. Curly red hair that fell down her back, a black shirt and jeans. "Is that her?" Clint asked.

"Yeah." He said quietly. "I don't know what it is. She's funny. And smart. She's not afraid to stand up to people." He said with a small grin.

Clint nodded and pointed to them. "You see the girl with her, the redhead? That's Tasha." Phil's eyes widened. Everyone knew Natasha Romanoff. She was the adopted daughter of the principal but was a rebel, she didn't care what people thought, and Clint was dating her. He thought if he was a big fifth grader like Clint, he'd like to date Melinda. "I know what you mean. The girls who kick butt are always the cool ones."

He sat reading his comic books with Clint as he read his book for class, Percy Jackson, until a patch of shade showed up and he looked up, seeing Melinda standing there in front of him, her dark eyes looking curiously at him as Natasha came up to Clint.

"This is Melinda." She said, going to Clint's side and curling up with him. "Mel, this is Clint. He's my boyfriend."

Clint and Natasha grinned at each other. "I think Phil knows Melinda." Clint said. Phil could feel his cheeks turning red as Melinda sat beside him on the grass, pushing her dark hair away from her face.

"I think so." He said, closing his comic book to look at her. He was glad to see her up close. She had a round, small nose and dark eyes, and soft pink lips. "Hi."

"Hi." She said. Her voice was quiet but firm. He liked it. She didn't seem like she talked much. "I like your comics." She said, pointing to the glossy copy of Captain America volume 5. "I'm a Black Widow fan but Cap is cool."

He was in love. And she liked Cap.

**Author's Note:**

> Childhood!Philinda fic, more or less inspired by the fact that I just spent three weeks as a camp counselor to ages 6-10, so I got a plot bunny. The title of this fic comes from the song Little Bird, Little Bird by Elizabeth Mitchell.


End file.
